Polite Dissent

JSA #67 “The Autopsy”
Geoff Johns, writer
Dave Gibbons, penciler

Despite the title, surprisingly little of the book is actually concerned with the autopsy. Most of the book deals with the various members of the JSA coming to terms with Sue Dibny’s death. It makes a good story, but I was looking forward to some good forensic science. Oh well…

A more in-depth autopsy is shown in the pages of Identity Crisis #2.

Only four items of medical interest are mentioned in this issue:

1. “Spectral analysis of her blood vessels did not reveal much.” (This is hardly a surprise given that this is simply Grade-A technobabble. How can you analyze the spectrum of something buried deep within other tissues in the body? Even if it could possibly work, no useful information would be gained.)
2. The toxicology reports are negative.
3. Sue Dibny was not burned to death and did not die because of smoke inhalation. (Dr. Mid-Nite knows this because “her lungs are pink.” This is legitimate reasoning in regards to smoke inhalation, but is not necessarily correct in regards to burning to death. If the fire were hot enough and fast enough there would not have been enough time to breathe in soot to darken the lungs.)
4. Dr. Mid-Nite sees something under the microscope that reveals who the killer of Sue Dibny is (but, of course, that’s not divulged here.)